A tea party takes a poisonous turn leaving Daisy and Hazel with a new mystery to solve in the second novel of the Wells & Wong Mystery series.

Schoolgirl detectives Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are at Daisy’s home, Fallingford, for the holidays. Daisy’s glamorous mother is throwing a tea party for Daisy’s birthday, and the whole family is invited, from eccentric Aunt Saskia to dashing Uncle Felix. But it soon becomes clear that this party isn’t about Daisy after all—and she is furious. But Daisy’s anger falls to the wayside when one of their guests falls seriously and mysteriously ill—and everything points to poison. It’s up to Daisy and Hazel to find out what’s really going on.

With wild storms preventing everyone from leaving, or the police from arriving, Fallingford suddenly feels like a very dangerous place to be. Not a single person present is what they seem—and everyone has a secret or two. And when someone very close to Daisy begins to act suspiciously, the Detective Society does everything they can to reveal the truth…no matter the consequences.

I received this book for free from Simon & Schuster for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

First sentence: “Something dreadful has happened to Mr. Curtis.”

Guess who’s back! The Wells & Wong Detective Society are back at it again with a murder case that’s a little close to home.

At Fallingford (Daisy Wells’ home) for the holidays, Daisy and Hazel Wong find themselves surrounded by people (most who reside at the house or are guests) acting all sorts of suspicious with the arrival of Denis Curtis, a “friend” of Lady Hastings. What is wrong with all these adults? When one of guest falls ill from a poisoning, Daisy and Hazel realize the culprit is still in Fallingford, and it is up to them to get to the bottom of it.

How to Solve A Poisoning inPoison Is Not Polite

Have a case fall into your lap.

Not literally, of course. But for a case to kick off, something has to happen, and something does.

During a tea party for Daisy’s birthday, one of the guests become seriously ill after sipping on tea that had been poisoned. Now, the victim—Denis Curtis—wasn’t welcomed into the Fallingford House with opened arms; he was despised. Everybody, except Lady Hastings, found him to be rude and suspicious, and knew he had ulterior motives for being at the house.

Daisy tries to be a professional and to not get her personal feelings in the way of the case, but it’s hard when your loved ones are the prime suspects. Readers get to see this conflict in Daisy, and I loved it. She may seem calm, but Daisy is anything but calm. As they compile their list of suspects and motives, Daisy and Hazel have really grown so much as detectives.

Do major sleuthing and get evidence.

The Wells & Wong Society get down to sleuthing. They have to: list all the suspects and their motives, find the teacup that had the poison it, get information slyly, and so on. Everything that they did kept me on the edge of my seat; I just wanted to dig into the mysterious behaviors of the adults. I had to keep myself from peeking at the end to see who was the murderer.

Get some help.

Solving a murder is a team effort. It’s not only Daisy and Hazel on the case. Their friends from their boarding school, Kitty and Beanie, who are at the Fallingford for Daisy’s birthday, are made honorable members of the Wells & Wong Detective Society, and assist on the case!

If you read Murder Is Bad Manners, you can see what a long way Daisy and Hazel has come from their early detective days. They balance each other wonderfully, and they work off of each other so well. They are a team, who are more open to comments and suggestions. It brings joy to my eyes how they’ve grown in their friendship.

Solve the case.

With all the evidences they’ve gathered, Daisy and Hazel reveal everything they’ve found, and when everything’s out in the open, you will be shocked.

Should you read Poison Is Not Polite? YES. I highly recommend this book. Poison Is Not Polite is an exceptional Middle Grade mystery in the Wells & Wong series. You get a thrilling murder case in the form of a poisoning, new suspects who are all Daisy’s family, an Asian narrator (that hasn’t changed from the first book), and the same ole sleuthing duo who are far better detectives than they were in the previous book. (You should read Murder Is Bad Manners first if you haven’t. You don’t necessarily have to read the first book, but it helps you see how much these characters have grown).

Like I’ve said before, join Wells & Wong’s Detective Society! You will have a roaring fun time.

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about me

I'm Cee, queen of all things delightful!
Well, in my head.

The Novel Hermit is written by a daydreamer who loves books and thinks they are absolutely delightful. You will find YA, reviews, comics, discussion, letters, fonts + book cover love, and lots of fangirling squealing. What more can you ask for?

Disclaimer

All of the books I review either have been purchased by me, borrowed from the library, and sent to me by the publisher (the latter of which I will note). All the words and opinions in this blog are my own. I am not paid to write reviews. Synopsis are taken from either the back of the book or from Goodreads.com. Any use and/or duplication of my material without permission from me (the author and owner of The Novel Hermit blog) is strictly prohibited.